Hi Sue and welcome, I personally think your moms numbers are ok, she is not going into kidney failure as yet. I would concentrate more on pain relief for her and anything that would make her more comfortable. After living for 88 years, she does not deserve to be uncomfortable in any way, shape or form. If she has no pain meds, I would ask for a mild pain reliever for her, nothing severe that would interfere with her breathing, just something to calm her and make her life more comfortable. She deserves to be treated with the utmost care and respect. Lots of love, Norma ...

Hi Norma - Thank you for your reply. She takes Tylenol for the flank pain, and I suspect that is all she is ever going to take. She doesn't even like to take that, but she gets so uncomfortable, she has to take something. I know she is not as bad off as some, but, it's difficult to see her struggle with this. Do you think her Geriatric Care Physician will send her to a nephrologist? I worry about her A-fib and the possible kidney problem. She had to have a hysterectomy due to cysts on her ovaries, so I'm thinking she may have them on her kidneys too.

hi again Sue, I don't think having an ultrasound really matters at this point if she has cysts on her kidneys or not. Do you have PKD? Perhaps you might need to know for yourself. Her GFR is consistent with someone her age, that would be your choice. One medication she could take for pain that is mild is Tramadol, it's not a narcotic and a very mild pain reliever with Tylenol in it. She shouldn't be suffering at her age,that breaks my heart. Also having an ultrasound on her kidneys might be painful for her at this point, especially as she is having flank pain already. I am guessing that her geriatric physician will not send her for an ultrasound,just my opinion. How is your mom otherwise, is she up and about, eating fairly well? All this needs to be taken into consideration. Keep me posted Sue, I really care.

Hi Norma - thank you for your concern. I show no signs of PKD. I am 63 yrs. old. I guess I was aghast with my mother's numbers, because the GFR dropped 10 pts. in 3 months. She has been complaining of flank pain for a few years now, but every time we asked the doctors about it, they just skipped over the topic. I stumbled upon the term "flank pain" when I noticed the drop in her GFR and started reading about PKD. Until then, she just suffered with these unknown back pains. Her cardiologist and her geriatric care physician missed this now for over 3 yrs. At least it would have helped ease her worries somewhat to know what it is. I guess another reason I am concerned about kidney disease is that she already has a stroke risk with the A-fib, and now if her kidneys are not up to par, then that's another stroke risk for her. She is on a blood thinner from her cardiologist. Thank you for your advice Norma. You have calmed me down some.

Norma has pretty well said it all. With her other health problems I can understand that it would be a shock to think there is one more thing wrong. It's unusual for a GFR to drop 10 points like that, but it happens. Next blood test it could go back up again. I've had tests that have dropped 4 points and it will simply be because I had eaten potatoes (which is not on my diet) the night before my test. The next time the number would be up 3 or 4% again. From where I sit 42 is a very good number for her age. Kidney function goes down with age naturally. I'm 63 and my GFR is 23. It dropped suddenly from 29 to 23 and that is not normal for me. It's taken me about 15 years to drop 20 pts. bit by bit. My doctor has a patient in her 80's who levelled out at 20 and it hasn't changed for years.

So you don't know for sure that it's PKD? Get her GCP to go over her other numbers. Tell him you are concerned. I usually write down a list of questions I want to ask, because I'll get into the office and forget half of my questions. If you believe it's a kidney problem then Tylenol is the right thing to give her. NEVER give her Advil, it's hard on the kidneys.

Good luck and please come back and let us know how she's doing.

Thank you ShirleyMac. When I did the other calculations for CKD, she came up as being in the 3B catagory of kidney disease. So that is another thing that was disturbing to me. The next step would be 4 and it is just surprising I guess. She has been incontinent lately, and not sure if this has anything to do with her kidneys or not. She will not be forthcoming with the incontinence issue with the doctor. I will have to tell him and she will only deny it. I just do the best I can with her without making a fuss, but I do feel that her flank pain is something that he needs to know about. She may or may not admit it to him now that she knows it has something to do with kidney disease.

Hi nymima,
Declining kidney function is a normal part of the aging process, which begins around the age of 30-40. The average eGfr range for someone of your mother's age is 47-72. After the age of 90 this drops to 41-65. She us a little below what is regarded as "normal" for her age, but as Shirleymac says, eGfr figures have a margin of error and can vary from day to day, so on another day your mother may well be within the average. I don't think doctors will worry too much about these figures at this age, especially if there are more pressing concerns. However, there may be a need for some pain relief. Below a certain level of function (usually about 30%), drug dosages may need to be adjusted, too. The other thing is to check how much your mother is drinking. The elderly have reduced thirst messages so often do not take in enough fluids. Not drinking enough can contribute to kidney pain. She may be restricting her fluid intake because of the continence issues you mention and may not be keen to drink more. I have a very elderly relative who has no health issues but she does need to wear incontinence pads.

Good luck with supporting your mother.

Chewitt

Some medications can be hard on the kidneys and cause drops like that. Make sure someone goes over her meds and makes sure that there aren't any meds that are causing the drop. If so, they can maybe be changed.

I know - she's on so many meds for her chronic A-fib too. We will see the geriatric care doctor soon. We will have to talk about a few things. I will let you know.

Just want to up-date that Mom's geriatric care physician sent her for ultrasound of her kidneys and bladder. We will find out what's going on in 2 weeks. He also wants to know more about her digestive problems then too.

hello

it sounds like your taking very good care of her!
up until two weeks ago i had no idea that ckd and a fib had a relation im about to have testing done to see if i have a fib as well as ckd
but i wish you and her all the best!